A 23rd Century Ancient Tragedy
by PWhitehead
Summary: A tragedy that can still happen aboard the Enterprise. Spock plays detective as Yeoman Claire Penn is murdered. R&R please


In the transporter beam, no one can hear you scream…  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek or its related trademarks - Paramount Pictures does. If I owned Trek, Data would wear an Afro wig, Spock would break dance and everybody would go "Well, duh!" after every line Counselor Troi says. But I digress…  
  
If you like this story, or if you just want to flame me for no real reason, please review it. It's the only way authors can find out what people think of their work. If it's a signed review, who knows? I might read & review your work.  
  
This is a murder mystery set on the Enterprise  
  
"Captain's Log, Stardate 5832.1  
  
Captain Kirk recording. Last night, the body of Yeoman Claire Penne was found in the transporter room. Doctor McCoy is currently conducting an autopsy, but we suspect the cause of death to be deliberately inflicted cellular mismatch, where the transporter has been tampered with to re- arrange cells in the wrong order. I have deputised Mr. Spock to investigate and find the murderer."  
  
Captain Kirk reclined in his chair, not happy at all that someone on the ship had murdered one of his crewmembers. Still, he thought, if the murderer is here, Spock'll find him or her.  
  
Even though murder was unheard of on Vulcan, Commander Spock knew that 90% of all murders were committed by someone the victim knew. He had to find the murderer, the motive, and if they had the opportunity. He would start with her friends, and her new fiancé, Lars Eriksson, then expand in a widening circle of those she knew. He first dropped in on Crewman Eriksson's quarters, that being the nearest to the turbolift. He chimed the bell.  
  
"Come in" Said Lars Eriksson, who was off-duty.  
  
Commander Spock entered. "Crewman Eriksson, I am here to ask some questions on the murder of your fiancée, Claire Penne."  
  
"Oh, let me sit down." He was obviously shaken by the still recent news of her death, and Spock regretted his overly brusque attitude earlier. "What do you want to know, sir?"  
  
Spock started the list of questions he had prepared earlier. "Where were you during the hours of 20.00-23.00 last night?"  
  
"Well, I was over at Ensign Harrison's quarters playing bridge until 21.00, then I came straight back to my quarters and went to sleep."  
  
"Who was at this game who can verify your story, Crewman?"  
  
"There were five of us… Yvette Harrison, Jill Gateshead, Rob Meyr, Frank Dobbs and me."  
  
Spock wrote those names down on his PADD.  
  
"And is there any way you can prove you came straight back?"  
  
Lars thought for a bit. "Well, I recorded my log as soon as I came in, and I left at exactly 21.00, so you can time how long it would take me to walk back here."  
  
Spock decided to visit Harrison's quarters next and time himself walking there, at a human's pace. "Thank you, Crewman, that's all I need for now."  
  
Lars stood up. As Spock left the room, he grabbed Spock's left arm and looked him in the eyes. "Commander, you will catch whoever did this to her, right?"  
  
"I will endeavour to do so, Mr. Eriksson." He left.  
  
On arrival at Yvette Harrison's door, he checked his chronometer. Lars Eriksson's story 'checked out', as Dr. McCoy would say, almost to the second. It therefore could not have been him who actually murdered her. Ensign Harrison was on duty, so he went to PO Jill Gateshead's quarters. He rang the chime.  
  
"Come!" Said Crewman Gateshead's voice.  
  
Spock stepped into the room. Jill Gateshead was sitting on her couch, reading a novel. "Crewman Gateshead, I am here to ask you some questions about the murder of Claire Penne."  
  
"Yeoman Penne? I hardly knew her. I heard about the murder." She said in her clipped British accent. "It's just horrible, isn't it?"  
  
"Evidently."  
  
"How can you say that, Commander. With all due respect, 'Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.'" She sat up, haughtily.  
  
Spock paused. "I am sorry, Ensign, but Vulcans do not react emotionally to events such as these."  
  
"Hmph."  
  
Spock continued with his questions. "Where were you during the hours of 20.00-23.00 last night?"  
  
"I was at a bridge game at Yvette… Ensign Harrison's quarters until nine p.m., then I went to the rec. deck with Frankie… erm… Crewman Dobbs to watch a two-dee, until my early shift began at 1 a.m."  
  
"And you were with Crewman Dobbs the whole time."  
  
"Yes, except for two minutes while I went to get a cup of tea."  
  
Two minutes was not enough time to complete the murder and get back in time. Spock continued. "Is there anyone else who can verify this story?"  
  
Jill thought for a minute. "I think Lieutenant Kaye might have seen us, and you can check my ration chip for when I got my tea. The rec. deck logs might be of some use?"  
  
"I will check those logs. Do you know if either Lars Eriksson or Robert Meyr had reason to do harm to Yeoman Penne?"  
  
"Well, not really, after all, Lars is… was… her fiancé. But Robert used to go out with her, and they were getting pretty serious about three months ago… but they broke up."  
  
Spock wrote all of this down. "Any idea why they broke up?"  
  
"No, not really. I think he took it pretty bad though."  
  
"Thank you, petty officer. That is all I need to know for now."  
  
It turned out that Ensign Harrison had gone to sickbay at 21.00, with an upset stomach, so she could not have done it. He questioned Crewman Frank Dobbs too, and their stories checked out too. Lieutenant Kaye remembered seeing them together, kissing, on the rec. deck at 22.00, so there was only one name left on the list. Robert Meyr, Transporter Chief. Spock was sure he was closing in on the murderer.  
  
He stepped into Transporter room 3, and saw Chief Meyr.  
  
"Chief Meyr, where were you during the hours of 20.00-23.00 last night?"  
  
Chief Rob Meyr looked up, panic in his eyes. He picked up a dynospanner and flung it at Commander Spock. Spock easily dodged it, but it gave the chief time to crawl into a Jeffries tube and lock the door. Spock reached for the nearest intercom button. "Security, Chief Meyr has attempted to assault a superior officer and is wanted in connection with Claire Penne's murder. He is to be considered dangerous, and must be captured." Spock then pulled the Jeffries tube door out of its tracks and crawled as fast as he could in pursuit of Chief Meyr. Phaser drawn.  
  
Spock followed the sound of Chief Meyr's breathing down a vertical shaft, and dropped down to land in a small cargo hold. Chief Meyr jumped at Spock, and grabbed his phaser. Spock, surprised by the man's strength, picked himself up, but stopped when he saw the phaser pointed at him.  
  
"Don't move!" Shouted Meyr.  
  
"I take it from your actions that you are the murderer of Claire Penne?" Spock said, voice carefully neutral.  
  
"Shut up." Snapped Meyr. "You don't know what she did to me!"  
  
"On the contrary. My bethrothéd spurned me, when we were arranged to be married." Spock said.  
  
"Yeah, well it's different for you Vulcans. I bet you just went 'Oh well' and didn't think a thing about it!"  
  
"Actually," said Spock, shifting his feet a little, "I regret to say I acted rather badly." He remembered the fight with Kirk, McCoy's 'tri-ox compound', the high priestess, the broken gong.  
  
"Oh yeah? Well, Claire… she…I loved her…" His voice started to break down. Spock was almost nauseated by the amount of emotion this man was giving off.  
  
"Chief, why did you kill her if you loved her?" Spock was genuinely bemused. "It is not logical."  
  
"Spock! Love isn't logical, life isn't logical! Maybe I'm mad… but…" He sobbed. "Oh, goodness! How I loved her, Commander! I… we were…" He dropped the phaser and collapsed against the wall. Spock quickly applied a nerve pinch, not wanting his Vulcan control to be broken by the raw waves of emotion Meyr was giving out. "Security, I have apprehended Mr. Meyr, in cargo hold 42, deck 11."  
  
"Captain's log, Stardate 5832.5.  
  
Commander Spock has been successful in finding our murderer, a Chief Robert Meyr, who was driven mad when Claire Penn broke up with him and accepted a proposal from Lars Eriksson. We are diverting to Starbase 29, so Mr. Meyr can be remanded into the custody of Starfleet Security, and Claire Penn's body can be sent back to Earth, in accordance with her family's wishes. A famous Earth writer in the 20th century once said that he two most common motives for murder were love and money. Nowadays, we don't have money, leaving love as the most common motive. I don't know if there is anything to learn from this tragic incident. If there was, it would surely have been learnt long ago. But instead, this ancient tragedy seems destined to be replayed again somewhere, regrettably. Kirk out." 


End file.
